The Master of Zande Lou

The collection of J.M. Hu represents a lifetime’s dedication to connoisseurship and beauty. Across more than half a century, J.M. Hu acquired an exceptional grouping of Chinese ceramics—and in particular imperial porcelain—that illuminated the rich history of China and its people. In both his personal collection and in his bequests to cultural institutions, J.M. Hu stood as a model of the modern scholar-collector.

Hu Hui Chun was born in 1911 in Beijing; in later years, he changed his given name to Jen Mou. The eldest son of the influential banker Hu Chun, J.M. Hu was raised in an elegant private residence amongst his many stepbrothers and stepsisters. In keeping with tradition, he was given a rigorous background in the Chinese classics; more unusually, this was supplemented by a Western-style education, as well. He first encountered Chinese ceramics during his student years, when he purchased a nineteenth-century brush-washer for his desk. This initial foray into collecting would become emblematic of J.M. Hu’s poignant relationship with art: even amidst the upheavals of war and the evolution of his collection, the modest brush-washer stayed with him until his death in 1995. J.M. Hu’s boyhood studies within the Chinese literati tradition greatly informed his philosophical approach to life and collecting: humble and erudite, he consistently affirmed that it was the visceral connection between a collector and his acquisitions that was of essential importance. True value, in J.M. Hu’s estimation, lay far beyond monetary worth. 

Mr. and Mrs. J.M. Hu, mid 1950s.

The early twentieth century was a ‘golden age’ of Chinese collecting. With the fall of the Qing dynasty, numerous works of art became available for the first time, allowing both Chinese and international enthusiasts to assemble world-class private collections. Expanded foreign access to China fostered interest in the nation’s rich history and culture, with ambitious overseas collectors such as John D. Rockefeller, Jr., John Pierpont Morgan, and Sir Percival David acquiring rare Chinese works of art. As the Chinese art market matured, J.M. Hu contended with a growing number of buyers for prized works, aided in his quest by a personal reputation for integrity and connoisseurship amongst Chinese dealers. 

As the acquisition of Chinese works of art became increasingly competitive, J.M. Hu chose to concentrate his energies on Ming and Qing imperial porcelains. Qing monochromes, in particular, forever captured his attention. He was a fastidious buyer known for choosing only those pieces in pristine condition; on one occasion, he even rejected a pair of Guyuexuan enameled vases because one of the works had a minute chip in its glaze. A noted traditionalist, J.M. Hu went to great lengths designing wooden stands and fitted boxes to preserve and display his Chinese treasures, and delighted in sharing the collection with fellow connoisseurs. For J.M. Hu, collecting was a serious, scholarly pursuit not to be taken lightly; the joy of art came with a responsibility to honour both the artist and object.

J.M. Hu often spoke of the three necessary criteria in collecting: zhen (authenticity), jing (rarity and quality), and xin (condition). Yet it was an individual’s bond with a work of art—evidenced in J.M. Hu’s beloved brush-washer—that was of fundamental significance. In handling and examining his ceramics, J.M. Hu sought that indefinable delight that could come only from the beauty of artistry. In the tradition of Chinese literati who bestowed symbolic monikers upon their studios, libraries, and collections, the name of J.M. Hu’s studio—Zande Lou—referenced the influential Lanting Xu of the famed Jin dynasty calligrapher Wang Xizhi. The Lanting Xu text describes Zande as a person’s inner happiness. Although J.M. Hu intended the meaning of Zande to express this fleeting happiness—which he experienced as a collector when examining an object—the word has also come to be interpreted as the inherently transitory nature of collecting and possessing fine art. 

Mr. J. M. Hu with his collection, 1960s

J.M. Hu’s collection of Chinese ceramics provided abundant opportunity for personal scholarship and historical investigation. As early as the 1940s, he longed for a welcoming social environment where like-minded collectors could share and discuss art and objects. Two decades later, he established the Min Chiu Society in Hong Kong alongside fellow collectors K.P. Chen and J.S. Lee. A noted cultural philanthropist, J.M. Hu gifted substantial groupings from his collection to the Shanghai Museum in 1950 and 1989; many of these objects remain on view in the museum’s Zande Lou Gallery. The collector also arranged to have his family’s set of imperial zitan furniture sent to the National Palace Museum in Taipei for display, and returned the important Siming version of the Huashan Temple stele rubbing to the Palace Museum, Beijing. 

J.M. Hu remains a celebrated figure amongst collectors of Chinese art. The remarkable shapes and glazes of the Qing monochromes offered here serve as a reminder of the true spirit of Zande, as J.M. Hu’s beloved ceramics now bestow inner happiness on a new generation of connoisseurs. 

Helen D. Ling and Edward T. Chow, Collection of Chinese Ceramics from the Pavilion of Ephemeral Attainment, vol. III (cover).

Helen D. Ling and Edward T. Chow, Collection of Chinese Ceramics from the Pavilion of Ephemeral Attainment, vol. IV (cover).

Lot 2851. A fine pair of Guan-type glazed octagonal vases, Qianlong six-character seal marks in underglaze blue and of the period (1736-1795); 5 5/8 in. (14.3 cm.) high. Estimate HKD 1,000,000 - HKD 1,500,000. Price realised HKD 1,625,000. © Christie's Images Ltd 2017

Each facetted vase is applied to the shoulder with a pair of lug-shaped handles, covered overall with a thick, even glaze of greyish-blue tone, the foot dressed brown, box.

Provenance: The J.M. Hu Collection.

Literature: Helen D. Ling and Edward T. Chow, Collection of Chinese Ceramics from the Pavilion of Ephemeral Attainment, vol. III, Hong Kong, 1950, pl. 167

Lot 2851, illustrated in Collection of Chinese Ceramics from the Pavilion of Ephemeral Attainment, vol. III, pl. 167.

Exhibited: Shanghai Museum, Beijing Museum, Art Museum, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Qing Imperial Monochromes. The Zande Lou Collection, Shanghai, Beijing, Hong Kong, 2005, Catalogue, pl. 32.

Note: Vases of this type from the Qianlong period were applied with both guan-type and Ru-type glazes. The National Palace Museum Collection has two such examples, each inscribed on the base with an Imperial poem by the Qianlong Emperor, with lines indicating that these vases functioned as receptacles for flowers (see Obtaining Refined Enjoyment: The Qianlong Emperor’s Taste in Ceramics, Taipei, 2012, pl. 85, 86.) The current vases are covered with a thick, greyish-blue glaze and dressed brown on the feet, in imitation of Song guan wares. In the thirteenth year of the Yongzheng reign (1735), the Superintendent of the Imperial kilns at Jingdezhen,Tang Ying, listed in Taocheng jishi bei ji (Commemorative Stele on Ceramic Production), a number of glazes in imitation of Song wares, including ‘moon-white, pale green and deep green, all copied from ancient pieces sent from the Imperial Palace’.